“I would challenge the media to stop using the word ‘alleged,'” she said. “My beef is really with all the people who are complicit. It’s the first time in history women are being believed, even though we get slagged.”

McGowan also listened as several of the other women spoke out about their own experiences being shamed and at times, threatened, after going public with their experiences.

“I stayed silent for a long time because I didn’t feel like there was a safe environment to be able to voice this,” Mimi Haleyi, one of the women who has accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, said. Added Rebekah Corey, who last month alleged that comedian Louis C.K. masturbated in front of her, “I’m getting death threats and I’m getting ripped apart and … getting all this free hate every single day,” for coming forward with her story.

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Despite the backlash, however, the women at the roundtable agreed that seeing other women come forward about their experiences was empowering even as it was terrifying.

“I had a tremendous amount of self-blame until those women came forward and were published, and then I kind of felt like ‘Wow. Things are shifting, I can share this experience,'” Weinstein-accuser Dominique Hewitt said.